Alien 2 point 5
by Selene47
Summary: Set after Aliens because the 3rd was...I can't even say it. Newt and Hicks survive, but Ripley gets impregnated by an alien! A medical colony may hold the cure, but not everything is what it seems...not even old friends.
1. Survival

**1:**

The _Sulaco_ drifted silently, its proud hull cutting through the dark emptiness of space. The view from the darkened window showed nothing but stars, planets, and darkness so intense it seemed to soak up all other life, and swallow the small ship with its majesty.

The spaceship glided effortlessly, with no pilot or change of direction, and an observer might think it just an empty shell – but the _Sulaco_ was far from devoid of life. The excess power that usually gave out light and heat was diverted to the shuttle clamped to the ship's starboard side; it was used to sustain life-support for the four souls slumbering in hypersleep pods, survivors of the nightmare that took place on LV426. They slept peacefully, believing that it was all behind them, while in the shadows, their worst fear came to life.

A single parasite crawled on eight legs out of the darkness, and scuttled up onto the roof of the first pod. Without stopping to look at the figure inside – the shredded torso of Bishop, the android, complete with plastic wrapping – the creature leapt to the next pod, where the heavily bandaged Hicks slept. It paused, as if in thought, then jumped to the next pod, using its long tail for balance. It seemed to consider the form of Ripley for a long moment, taking in the dark hair curling around her strong, calm face; the long bare legs; the rise and fall of her chest. Then the monster moved on. It landed lightly on the glass above the sleeping girl in the last pod, and if it had a face to speak of it would have leered down at the child. As it was, the parasite settled its body directly over Newt's face and waited for the glass to melt.

Newt had spent so long running and hiding, waiting for the promise of safety and comfort, that as she was dragged from the first deep sleep she'd had in months, she thought to begin with that she was just having another nightmare. The creature hovering in the parasite-shaped hole above Newt gave her a split second to realise that it was real, that it was actually happening, before dropping at her face.

Newt had just enough time to raise her right hand and grab a few of the parasite's legs as they clawed at her face. The creature squirmed and struggled, but somehow, gritting her teeth so she wouldn't scream, Newt brought up her left hand and got hold of it on the other side. She managed to pin it against the roof of her pod, and tried to push it back through the same hole, but the alien had other ideas. It immediately stretched out both legs as far as the cramped casing would allow, and started bashing its think tail against the girl's legs, raising angry welts. Tears sprang to Newt's eyes, but she blinked them away fiercely and redoubled her efforts, lifting a knee to trap the vicious tail. Squeezing the parasite with both hands, Newt risked a glance towards Ripley's pod. The woman's head was turned Newt's way, but her eyes were closed. She was fast asleep.

"Rip-ley…" she gasped as her strength began to fail. Then, with a surge of hope, Newt noticed the release button set into the wall at the head of Ripley's cocoon. There was one on every pod, including this one!

With a fresh burst of adrenaline, Newt gripped the creature with both hands and flung it, as hard as she could, down the pod towards her feet. Surprised, it hit the far end and began to scrabble towards her upside-down, eight legs slithering it across the glass roof. Newt thrust out both feet and squashed it against the roof, cringing in disgust. All the while, the arm was groping through the melted hole above her to the wall behind. Through sheer luck, her palm hit the switch after only seconds, and there came the hiss of all of the pods beginning to open. The roof lifted, and Newt half rolled, half fell sideways onto the floor, taking the parasite with her.

Gasping, sobbing, flopping like a fish, Newt scrabbled away, looking for somewhere small and safe where she could curl up undetected. Then the tail lashed around her neck, and she couldn't even breathe.

Stars flashed in front of Newt's eyes as the alien's tail tightened, squeezing her neck like she had squeezed its body a few moments ago. Newt's breath came in ragged gasps. Her small hands clawed uselessly as it crawled along her chest towards her face.

THWACK! Something heavy smashed into the creature, sending half of it flying across the shuttle. Newt twisted away from the blood dripping from the end of the detached tail, squeaking in terror as it burned through the ground next to her. Stunned, she looked up, and there was Hicks, holding his rifle like a swung club. As the dazed creature staggered to its many feet, he flipped the gun over in his hands and emptied the clip into it. The parasite gave an indignant shriek, and then exploded, spraying green blood against the wall of the shuttle.

Dressed only in shorts, and with bandages wrapped around his torso and left eye, Hicks looked rather comical, but Newt didn't notice, too busy ripping the severed tail from around her neck and taking huge gulps of air. Dropping the empty gun, Hicks fell to his knees beside the child and gathered her in his arms. Newt clung to him, sobbing, quivering like a frightened rabbit.

"Shh, it's OK, I've got you," Hicks whispered, stroking her hair comfortingly and making soothing noises. Finally she settled down and pulled free.

"Where's Ripley?" she wondered, and the two of them stood up and turned to look.

Newt screamed. Ripley was still lying in the opened pod, but where her face had been, now there was a parasite clamped tight on her head, its tail wound around her neck. Hicks could only stare in horror, but Newt tore herself out of his arms and ran to Ripley's side.

"Newt, no!" coming to his senses, Hicks sprinted after Newt and dragged her backwards, slapping the switch on the wall by her head. The pod closed, trapping Ripley and the alien inside.

"No!" Newt wailed, fighting free of him and beating her hands on the glass. Tears streamed down her face. She spun to face Hicks, screaming at him, "Get it off her! Hicks, do something!"

All he could do was shake his head. There was nothing he could do. Newt buried her head in his chest, making his wounds from the previous fight throb, but he barely noticed. He couldn't believe it, not Ripley, who had always been so strong. Taken down as she slept by such a small thing. There had to be someone, somewhere he could take her…

"That's it!" Hicks pulled Newt free and crouched down in front of her. "Newt, listen. Listen! We can save her, I know how we can save Ripley."

"You can?" Newt sniffed.

"Yes, but it's a long way away. I can get us there, but you'll need to go back into hypersleep - "

"No!" Newt's eyes widened in terror at the thought of being so helpless, at the thought of it happening again. "No, you can't make me!"

Hicks nodded, secretly relieved. It was a long way, and he didn't fancy spending that amount of time in hypersleep, so it was either say yes to Newt, or spend all that time on his own.

"All right. I'll call them. But there's something I have to do first."

"What?"

Hicks took a deep breath. "These parasites must have hatched from somewhere on the ship. There might be more eggs waiting to hatch. I have to find out where they are, and destroy them."

The ship was different in the dark. Hicks edged along an empty corridor, eyes twitching left and right for any sign of movement. He held the flame-gun ready in both hands. Despite his dark combat pants and black sleeveless T-shirt, he felt horribly exposed, and it was only the thought of Newt, alone in the shuttle, that kept him going. He had left her his pistol, though he hoped she wouldn't have to use it, and just the thought of her made him speed up.

The way Hicks saw it he had three choices. He could set the ship to self-destruct, and make a run for it in the shuttle – he vetoed this at once; he had read Ripley's report, and knew the Company was unlikely to see his side of the story if he destroyed such a valuable ship. He could unhitch the shuttle and fly them to safety, leaving the next poor soul who found the ship to reap the consequences – as a soldier, Hicks dismissed this also. The only other option he could see on such short notice was to find the nest, or nests, and flame them, then escape in the shuttle. As long as the fire was sealed off, with no way of getting to the engines, the _Sulaco_ shouldn't be completely destroyed. So that was his plan; to search the ship for any eggs, and set them alight.

Hicks turned a corner, holding the flame-gun in front of him. He longed to use a flame to light up the tunnel, but the gun was only half full, so he couldn't afford to waste any. Even so, his finger squeezed the trigger gently, ready to let out a blast of flame at a second's notice.

The corridor stretched before him, looking unfamiliar and foreboding in the darkness. The air felt to be getting warmer. That could mean he was getting close to the nest – but then again, it could just be in his head. In the heavy silence Hicks's footsteps seemed uncomfortably loud, and his heart was thumping in his ears, making it almost impossible to hear anything else. There could be a parasite behind him, and he wouldn't be able to see or hear it…

Hicks spun round, heart in his mouth – but the tunnel was empty. Feeling foolish, he slowly turned – and something brushed against his face. Letting out a yell, Hicks's finger tightened on the trigger and flames streamed along the corridor. In the sudden light, Hicks saw what he had walked into – a cobweb. He cursed himself under his breath; now every alien on the ship would know exactly where he was, if they weren't already tailing him. Hicks took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves.

_Dammit! You're a soldier, so act like it!_ Hicks snapped at himself, trying to pull himself together. He continued down the hallway.

It wasn't his imagination; it was definitely getting warmer. Then, without warning, a door loomed out of the shadows directly in front of him. Hicks knew, without a doubt, that his greatest fear lay behind it, waiting for him. But he was a soldier, and Newt was counting on him. He sidled up to the door and pressed his ear against it. There was no sound from inside, but warmth seemed to radiate from the door, burning his ear. Hicks flinched back, his fears confirmed. He didn't know how, but there was a nest in the next room. And he was the only one left who could do anything about it.

Hicks stepped back, raised his gun, and reached out to open the door.


	2. Heartburn

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, only the power over their life or death and the right to do with them what I want. Which, in my opinion, is enough.****  
**

**2:**

The door swung slowly open, and Hicks stepped cautiously into the darkness, holding the flame-gun in front of him. He was in what used to be the dining hall; the tables and benches were just visible in the darkness, but they were the only things that were. The room was empty.

Puzzled, Hicks shuffled further in, glancing around. The oppressive heat still closed around him, but despite it, there was no sign of any eggs, parasites, or aliens. Every instinct was screaming at him to run back to the shuttle, but Hicks forced himself to move. He picked his way across the room, turning in slow circles to counter anything creeping up behind him.

At the other end, he saw them. Shrouded in shadow underneath one of the tables furthest away from the door, were three eggs, huddled together in the pitch darkness. He couldn't see if they were open or not, but there was a torch attached to the flame-gun. Hicks hadn't wanted to draw attention to himself before, but now he had no choice. Crouching down beside the table, he flicked the on-switch with his thumb, and a beam of light cut through the darkness, almost blinding him. His eyes quickly adjusted to the light, and Hicks swung the torch's beam over the eggs. They were all open.

Hicks's heart began thumping hard. There was one more parasite out there somewhere, and he had left Newt alone.

He jumped to his feet and sprinted down the length of the hall, flinging himself through the door into the corridor. The beam of light swerved crazily over the tunnel walls as he lurched back along the tunnel. A fiery pain was spreading from the wounds in his chest across his whole body, and before he had reached the end of the passageway he screamed in pain and crumpled to the floor. Hicks curled into a ball, moaning through his teeth. His hands were tight against the bandages on his chest; maybe he was trying to push the pain out through his back. All he knew was that he had never felt in such pain in his whole life. It felt like he was dissolving from the inside out.

The pain didn't subside, but it lessened after a while, enough to let Hicks raise his head and open his eyes. He was still knotted in the middle of the dark corridor. He had to get out of there. That parasite was on the loose, and…

Then he remembered. He had made Newt bolt the shuttle door from the inside. There was no way it could get in, and it would have attacked already if it had been in there all the time. Relief swept through his body, followed by another wave of pain. Hicks closed his eyes and waited for it to fade, and then a thought struck him. If Newt was all right, then the parasite was somewhere in the main ship. And it was probably following him.

Hicks struggled to his feet, using the gun as a support. He couldn't stand up straight, and every jerk caused another tidal wave of pain, but finally he was on his feet, hunched over like an old man. Holding onto the wall, he dragged himself back through the ship. He knew the creature was out there somewhere…

As if to confirm that thought, something dropped from the ceiling and scuttled towards him across the floor. Hicks had time to register its legs before his finger automatically squeezed the trigger of his flame-gun. Fire ballooned into the corridor, and the parasite's shriek of pain cut off halfway through. Hicks didn't let go of the trigger; fire spread down the hallway and through the rest of the _Sulaco_.

He didn't realise he was screaming until the fuel ran out and the flame sputtered to a close. Then the sound of his yell followed the fire as it echoed through the ship. He quickly shut his mouth and breathed heavily through his nose. The whole corridor was awash with roaring flames.

"Shit," said Hicks as the heat began to blister his skin and his wounds prickled painfully. He tossed the empty gun aside, and somehow, found the strength to run.

Newt was standing exactly where Hicks left her, next to the door with her back to the wall. The pistol was gripped in both hands, and her knuckles were white with the effort of holding it raised. Every muscle in her small body was tensed, and her heart was beating fast. She was cold with fear.

Almost an hour after Hicks had gone, there was a banging on the door. It had to be him. Newt turned to the door and punched the number he had taught her into the keypad on the wall. The door unlocked and slid open. Hicks fell inside. Newt had the common sense to close the door behind him, before falling to her knees and pulling at his shoulders, turning him onto his back. His face was cold and damp with sweat, and his skin was red and blistered. He wasn't holding the flame-gun.

"Hicks?" she asked frantically, "What happened?"

"I got it…" he mumbled. "There was…one left, but…I got it." She sighed in relief, and was surprised at how much tension melted out of her. She tried to pull Hicks up, but he screamed out loud and she hastily dropped his arm.

"What's wrong?"

"Acid…acid for blood…" he reminded her, and she remembered what had happened to him. He had shot an alien at point-blank range, and its blood had sprayed over him.

"What do I do?" Newt scrambled to her feet. Hicks waved his arm in what could have been a pointing gesture. Newt followed it and found a first-aid kit in a cupboard; it was large, but Newt managed to lift the box, put it on the floor beside Hicks and unzip it. Hicks scrabbled around inside, grabbed a bottle of pills, and tried to unscrew the lid. His eyes were closed to slits, and his fingers were too clumsy to do anything more than scrape uselessly at the bottle. Newt took it and quickly unscrewed the lid. She didn't know how many he wanted so she tipped a pile into his waiting palm, and Hicks gulped them all down, coughing and retching at the bitter taste. After a few seconds, his breathing eased and he lay back on the floor, relaxing.

"What are these?" Newt asked. The bottle was still in her hand, so she turned it over and read: _Antacid tablets. For neutralising acid in the stomach, relieving the pain of…_ she looked up at Hicks.

"Heartburn tablets," he croaked, and started to laugh. Newt joined in, and their laughter, hers high and light, his low and wheezy, filled the shuttle.

After a while, the pain in Hick's torso had abated to a dull throb, and with Newt's help, he was able to stand. At his instruction, she helped him over to the control panel, and Hicks punched in his name and identification number.

"Welcome, Cpl. Hicks." trilled the robotic voice.

"I know someone," Hicks explained to Newt, pausing every now and then to drag air into his ragged lungs. "He specialises in extra-terrestrial…medical conditions. Maybe he can help Ripley."

"Then let's go," the girl said eagerly.

"It's quite a way away." Hicks said, drawing up a map of the solar system on the large screen. "Are you sure you don't want to…go into hyper-sleep?"

Newt nodded solemnly.

"All right." Hicks entered the co-ordinates, and another image appeared on the screen. A small planet – or at least, it looked small at that distance. Hicks typed in a few commands, and the planet rotated, then zoomed in, bigger and bigger, until a single, small community filled the screen. A number of small buildings dotted haphazardly around two larger, L-shaped buildings interlocked in the centre of the screen to form a square. Hicks tapped the two L-shapes.

"This is a hospital. It's also the planet's signature logo. Remember it." He commanded, his voice taking on the air of a soldier. Newt nodded an affirmative. "And here -" he pointed out the smaller buildings, "is where the doctors and their families live. There's a school for the kids, a bowling alley, cinema, even a Domino's Pizza. It's just like a town. We shouldn't be there long, but I want you to know that it's a nice place. You'll like it there."

"Okay," Newt agreed. She didn't really care what the place was like, as long as they could help Ripley.

"Okay," Hicks echoed. He keyed in a few more commands, and the computer spoke again.

"Course set for: SL621. Breaking away from the ship _Sulaco_."

"Affirmative," Newt mumbled. Then she yawned, and Hicks realised how tired he was. It must be a side effect of the pills. As the shuttle disembarked on its journey, separate from the burned-out shell of the ship, he made a bed for them in the corner out of clothes from the lockers against the far wall. They burrowed into the home made nest. Newt was sure she wouldn't be able to sleep, but before Hicks's snores reached her ears she had sunk into a deep, dreamless slumber.

The shuttle drifted towards the planet SL621, far on the other side of the galaxy. It took almost three years to get there.


	3. Reunion

**A/N: Sorry this chapter is so long. I could split it into two smaller ones, but it works better this way.**

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, only the power over their life or death and the right to do with them what I want. Which, in my opinion, is enough.**

**3: **

Dr. Marcus Hamilton finished filling out a form, signed the dotted line, and tucked it neatly into its file. He was sliding it, along with the rest of the files on his desk, into a filing cabinet on the adjacent wall of his office, when the phone on the table began to ring loudly. Hamilton settled himself in his swivel chair before answering.

"Yes?" he said as he picked up the handset and held it to his ear.

"Marcus?" he recognised the voice of his best friend Bart Bauser, who worked at the landing dock. "I've just got a report of a ship approaching us. It's slowing down, but at its current speed it should arrive within the hour."

"What's the ship look like?"

"Hard to tell at this distance. It's small. Could be a shuttle." Could be them, he added silently.

"Thanks, Bart. I'll be right up."

"Okay. See you soon." he killed the connection.

Marcus sat still for a few seconds, mulling it over in his head. His old friend Hicks hadn't been too specific; he could easily have abandoned ship and be arriving via shuttle. Marcus's hand automatically clenched, causing the pencil he had used to fill in the form to snap. After three years wait, had they finally arrived?

He was looking forward to seeing his old friend again, of course – and from what he had heard in Hicks's message, he now had a daughter. Hamilton would believe that when he saw it. But the real reason for his impatience was the condition of the…girlfriend? Wife? Hicks hadn't said; but surely she was the mother of the child? Whoever she was, the parasite attached to her face and the "thing growing inside of her" – as Hicks had put it – fascinated him. Hamilton couldn't wait to examine them, for it would take his medical knowledge a huge leap forwards.

Hamilton got up from the desk and picked his way across his office. He was a tidy man and a good doctor, but not very far up on the hospital's managerial chain of command, so the office he had been given was tiny. Whatever folders and papers wouldn't fit into the single filing cabinet had to be stacked and placed on the floor, making the room difficult to navigate around.

When he finally reached the window on the far wall, Hamilton pushed it open, leaned on the windowsill and breathed deeply and contentedly. This was the best part of his office. The window was large – he could easily see through it from his chair – but somehow the clutter of his office jarred with the clean simplicity of outside and made him feel uncomfortable.

The view soothed him; it really was a beautiful community. From above, the hospital looked like a large rectangle, split into two L-shaped sections. Hamilton's office was situated on the outside of one of the L-shaped wings, and from it he could see across the paved path that encircled the hospital, and over the hedge that lined it to the five apartment blocks beyond, where the doctors and families of patients lived. There were fifteen blocks in all, five on three of the four sides of the central square; the remaining side had a few shops for food, clothes and entertainment. There was even a school where the doctors' children, and children of the long-term patients went to learn; Hamilton's son attended.

Everything was bright and clean; the mayor, who also ran the hospital, had the androids clean everything once a month, from washing the buildings top to bottom, inside and out, to trimming the hedges and flowerbeds. Everything you would ever need was available right at your doorstep. As Hamilton's seniors put it, there was no reason for anyone to ever want to leave.

To Hamilton, it was paradise.

Suddenly, the clock face on the side of the apartment block facing him caught his eye. With a start, Hamilton realised that almost twenty minutes had passed since his conversation with Bart. The shuttle might arrive at any moment. Studying his reflection in the window, Hamilton straightened his tie, smoothed his unruly red hair and pushed his glasses further up his nose. Not that it mattered what he looked like; Hicks would undoubtedly look worse. He shrugged on his lab coat, clipped his ID card to the breast pocket, and left the office.

The shuttle pad was located on top of the hospital, for lack of space as much as convenience. By the time Hamilton arrived, Bart was already waiting for him, dressed in his grey, oil-stained jumpsuit. They didn't get many non-patient visitors, so when he wasn't overseeing the landing of ships, Bart doubled as a mechanic and handyman, fixing the two ambulance ships that they sent out to collect patients, and anything else that needed mending.

"Marc!" Bart exclaimed, and Hamilton allowed his friend to clap him violently on the back, knocking his glasses off, but Hamilton was used to Bart forgetting his size. Everything about Bart Bauser was larger than life; he was nearly a foot taller than skinny Hamilton, with bushy black hair, thick eyebrows overshadowing piercing blue eyes, a prominent prow of a nose and a deep, booming voice.

"Hello, Bart. Any news on the shuttle?" Hamilton replied, picking up his glasses, cleaning them with a handkerchief and carefully sliding them onto his nose. Bart's smile flickered, but stayed in place.

"Not as such. We can't seem to get through, but –"

"Hey, boss!" a boy of about fifteen ran up to them. His grey jumpsuit marked him as Bart's apprentice, but for the life of him Hamilton couldn't remember what his name was. "Look!"

Hamilton and Bart followed the boy's eager finger. He was pointing into the sky, but Hamilton couldn't see what he was pointing at. Bart, however, clapped the lad's shoulder enthusiastically.

"Nice job, Vincent ma boy. Sharp eyes you got there."

"Thank you, sir!" the boy blushed to the roots of his dirty blonde hair. Hamilton squinted and shielded his eyes, and sure enough, there was a dark shape moving towards them through the cloud.

"Is that…" he began, before realising that whatever it was, it was going way too fast. It had already cleared the bank of cloud and was hurtling towards the roof at an alarming speed.

"Shit," Bart rumbled. "If that thing doesn't stop there's not going to be a hospital left!"

The shuttle – for that was what it was – suddenly seemed to put on its brakes. It slowed drastically, until it was hovering less than a hundred feet above the roof, and then descended, not quite as slowly as Hamilton would have liked. Bart barely had time to grab both of his companions by their collars and drag them backwards out of the way, before the shuttle crashed down in front of them. As it landed, dust exploded from beneath it, and the whole hospital seemed to shudder.

"Shit," Bart repeated, letting go of Hamilton's lab coat and the back of Vin's overalls. The three of them stared as the door of the shuttle hissed and slowly opened. Two figures developed amongst the settling dust.

"Hicks?" Hamilton wondered, and then breathed a sigh of relief as his old friend came into view. Hicks came forward to grasp Hamilton's hand, and then laid a hand on the shoulder of the person standing beside him. It was a girl of about twelve, with long blonde hair that was in need of a wash, and clothes that looked much too big for her.

"It's so good to see you, Marcus. It's been too long." Hicks smiled warmly at him. They had said goodbye when Hicks left to go on his mission with the Marines and Hamilton joined the rest of the doctors heading to SL621, and Hamilton couldn't believe how much his friend had changed. Hicks had aged in that time; lines had appeared at the corners of his eyes, and he held himself differently. He was taller, but at the same time stopped slightly as if he'd hurt his back. His hair was a few inches longer, and he also had a beard, which didn't really suit him. Hamilton didn't have much time to dwell on it, however; he was too busy being hugged by his old buddy.

"You must be Dwayne." Bart held out his hand and Hicks shook it. "Name's Bart Bauser. Marcus has told me…almost nothing about you. How the hell did you guys like you end up friends?"

"Not much to tell, really. We met in High School. He went to College and I joined the Marines, but we kept in touch. I used to go to his house every year for Thanksgiving." Hicks explained, then remembered something. "Hey, I heard you got married. How's that working out?"

"Oh," Hamilton grunted, rubbing a hand through his hair. "Um, Sarah died a couple of years ago. Cancer."

"Shit." Hicks's face fell for the first time. He put a sympathetic hand on his friend's shoulder. "Sorry, man."

"Yeah," Hamilton nodded. Talking about his wife still caused his heart to squeeze painfully; he usually avoided the subject. Bart came to his rescue.

"So, you're married too?"

They all looked at the girl. She hadn't said anything during their interaction, and even now was just standing quietly at Hicks's shoulder, staring at her shabby trainers.

"Um, not exactly." Hicks looked a little embarrassed, and shoved a hand through his overgrown hair.

"But the kid's yours?"

"Yeah. This is Newt, my pride and joy." Hicks grinned, squeezing her shoulder. Of course, they had no way of knowing that he was lying. Bart whooped and thumped Hicks's shoulder as if they'd been friends for years. Hamilton congratulated him in a more refined manner. The child said nothing, but smiled for the first time.

"So where's the patient?" asked Hamilton, when the celebrations were over. He had been so caught up in seeing his friend, he had almost forgotten the reason for the visit. Hicks chewed on his thumbnail – a nervous habit he had picked up since their last meeting, Hamilton noted.

"Inside." Hicks led him into the dark interior of the shuttle and over to the hyper sleep pods. Bart followed, and the child trailed after them, still silent. The rest of the ship was dark – presumably an effect of their eccentric landing – but the single occupied pod was glowing. They peered in.

"Ripley." Newt explained, speaking for the first time.

The inhabitant of the pod – Ripley – was a woman; Hamilton would place her at late thirties, but still looking good. Her features were strong, and she looked to be sleeping peacefully, but Hicks quickly filled them in on her condition. He had waited for the creature to drop off her face and die, and then sealed her in stasis until she could be treated. She was dressed in only a singlet and undershorts, and Bart whistled softly, but Hamilton had eyes only for her face. Even in slumber, her expression seemed to emanate a resigned determination, as if she'd seen things in this world that nobody should have to face. Hamilton glanced up at Hicks, and saw him staring at the woman with the exact same look, though his eyes were softer.

"Hicks –" Hamilton started, but suddenly his old friend winced, and then hunched over in pain, moaning through gritted teeth. Hamilton leapt forwards, but the girl was at his side already. She dug in one of her father's pockets and produced a bottle of pills. She held it up to the light of the pod and hurriedly unscrewed the lid. Hicks's hand shot out to grab it, but misjudged the distance; the jar was knocked to the floor. It shattered, and small white tablets scattered everywhere. Newt fell to her knees and scrabbled at them, cutting her fingers on the glass, but Hamilton was quicker. He reached into his lab coat and produced an all-purpose tranquilliser/painkiller inject. He crouched next to Hicks, jabbed it into his neck and pressed the button. The contents immediately dissolved into Hicks's bloodstream; the effect was instantaneous.

Hicks crumpled, and Bart caught and easily lifted him.

"Take him to scan. Quickly!" Hamilton ordered. Bart vanished, and Newt went to follow, but Hamilton grabbed her.

"What were you giving him? What pills was he taking?"

"Just…heartburn pills. To stop the acid." Stomach acid, he thought she meant. Not that it mattered now.

"How many?" he said frantically. "Newt, how many did he take?"

"One a day since we set of. Sometimes more."

"Shit!" Hamilton didn't usually curse; but this was a special occasion, after all. "He's overdosed on sodium. He's gone into cardiac arrest."

Newt looked nonplussed, but Hamilton didn't pause to explain. He grabbed a cell phone from the pocket of his black pants. "Sandra, call the OR. We need immediate surgery on a male, approximately thirty-three years old. Thanks. And tell them to hurry. Oh, and send a team to fetch the third passenger in the ship that just arrived, but whatever you do, don't wake her up. That's an order."

He swept out of the shuttle, blinking in the sudden light, punching another button into his cell. "Max? It's Dad. Sorry, but I can't make it to your Karate presentation. Something's happened, but I'll make it up to you, I promise...Love you too. 'Bye."

Newt hurried to keep pace with the man as he hastened inside the hospital.

"What's going on?" she gasped. "Is Hicks going to be OK?"

"I'll do everything I can," he said automatically, then halted, remembering who he was talking to, the daughter of his best friend. He stopped and crouched down in front of the child, putting a hand on her shoulder, staring intently into her face. "Newt. I will do everything in my power to help your Dad. He'll be fine, and that's a promise."

Then he was back on his feet, once more in a hurry.

"Thank God he got here in time, it's a miracle he lasted this long." Hamilton added under his breath, talking more to himself than to Newt. He grabbed a stethoscope from a passing resident and smoothly tossed it around his own neck, ignoring the young man's indignant shout.

Yes, thank God they made it here, he thought, unaware that in no time at all, he would be saying exactly the opposite. 


End file.
